TKR JWS recovery journey since April 24/24

[mendogal]

Yep, it's a bit early for kneeling.... that feedback loop is really something, right!?!?
You should be ok in a day or two - do take plenty of walking breaks if it's a long drive to your weekend destination. Our 8 week old knees usually aren't fond of prolonged sitting.
Enjoy!!!!

 

[Hippalong]

What a difference a week makes, today is week 7 post TKR right knee. This week swelling is reduced a lot when I walk. The night time pain is also greatly reduced. I am able to sleep relatively comfortable for about 3 hours at a time before having to find another comfortable position. My lower calf and shin still feel bruised but that is slowly fading day by day. I am sure I will have set backs but am happy at this stage that I can tolerate the discomfort. I still have a little more flex I would like to achieve but giving it time. Monday at PT I was 120 bend and still at 3-4 from straight. Hopefully that will come as more swelling goes away. I am also doing small steps and can do 4 or 5 step foot over foot.
Thanks for all the encouragement hope next week will be even better. I see My Dr on Friday and will see what he thinks. At two week check I accused him of beating me with a hammer while I was out, he said no he used a bat and when he got tired he let his assistant take over.

Hi @JWS It's so lovely to hear that a week has made so much difference! You can almost here the positivity (and relief) in your post! I am yet to undergo the 'hammering and beating' lol (8th July) but your story has Been brilliant and honest and I think you've done amazingly well, keep it up!

 

[sistersinhim]

Ouch! I'm 8 years out, and I still won't kneel on my knees! No wonder you swelled and had more pain. Be careful with that baby knee of yours. It takes time, as you well know.

 

[Layla]

Hello and Happy Monday!
Hopefully camping over the weekend went well.
Happy Two Month Anniversary! I hope you have a nice week.
@JWS

 

[JWS]

Hello and Happy Monday!
Hopefully camping over the weekend went well.
Happy Two Month Anniversary! I hope you have a nice week.
@JWS

Camping itself was great, had a couple great grandkids which is fun or a handful depending on how you want to look at it. The drive there was probably a mistake at two months, my knees started swelling and was pretty painful all weekend. It felt good to get home and relax and ice. I guess it was too soon to be driving a motor home even though it was only 80 miles each direction. I feel much better this evening and swelling is going down. I feel sometimes this ordeal will never end. I know two months is still very early in the process.

 

[mendogal]

OMG I didn't realize you'd be the one doing the driving - at two months many of us are starting local driving.
Yep, please do ice and elevate and give yourself time to heal. On a cellular level it really can't be speeded up!

 

[sistersinhim]

I know two months is still very early in the process.

Yep, it sure is. At 2 months out, you are only about 1/6 of the way through this recovery. Some recover a little quicker, some longer, but the average is 12 months.

I'm so glad you're feeling better since being home. I agree that riding/driving was very uncomfortable for my baby knee.

 

[JWS]

Well tomorrow is the three month anniversary for me. I am back to doing my everyday life things, I just try to baby my surgery knee. The night time pain is basically gone. Which is a big relief, I thought that was never going to be gone. About PT, I had great PT folks and they were very helpful and would not push me into more pain zone than I wanted but truthfully I think I have been recovering faster after I stopped PT a couple weeks ago because I was not coming home with a swollen knee. I am walking with very little limp as I keep reminding my self I need to walk heel to toe. I still have a tiny bit of aching in my knee when I walk but not enough that I even think about it. I do still have some bruising above my ankle which surprises me after this amount of time. My right knee is still swelled a bit but I expected that and think it will get more back to normal over time… I hope this will encourage those of you following behind me, It does get better and better, weeks 1 through about 5 or 6 you’ll could not convinced it would get better but it does. I have been so thankful for those here that were ahead of me they gave me hope.

 

[mendogal]

That's a good three month update!

It's pretty common around 3-4 months that we start doing more just as we're also slacking off on periods of icing and elevation. But ... slightly challenging ourselves is also how we learn where are limitations are as we continue to improve!

So yes, keep working on heel to toe walking, and see if you can relax with ice and "toes above nose" 45 minutes at a time at least a couple of times a day for that swelling.

 

[Hippalong]

Well tomorrow is the three month anniversary for me. I am back to doing my everyday life things, I just try to baby my surgery knee. The night time pain is basically gone. Which is a big relief, I thought that was never going to be gone. About PT, I had great PT folks and they were very helpful and would not push me into more pain zone than I wanted but truthfully I think I have been recovering faster after I stopped PT a couple weeks ago because I was not coming home with a swollen knee. I am walking with very little limp as I keep reminding my self I need to walk heel to toe. I still have a tiny bit of aching in my knee when I walk but not enough that I even think about it. I do still have some bruising above my ankle which surprises me after this amount of time. My right knee is still swelled a bit but I expected that and think it will get more back to normal over time… I hope this will encourage those of you following behind me, It does get better and better, weeks 1 through about 5 or 6 you’ll could not convinced it would get better but it does. I have been so thankful for those here that were ahead of me they gave me hope.

Hi there, and how lovely that you've reached your 3 month anniversary....well done you!! It's reassuring to hear that you had good PT and that it did help. I am 9 days post Op today, so at the early stage, due my 1st Physiotherapy next week although was sent home with exercises to do. If I'm honest my leg feels like a dead weight, I can straighten it quite well and have some bend but am taking it steady, icing it and not forcing it into positions it really doesn't want to go....as yet. It's all softly softly at the minute and I can live with that! Thankyou for confirming there is light at the end of the tunnel

 

[benne68]

Glad to read you are doing so well, @JWS!

Would you like us to change your thread title (it still says "One week post-op) to reflect better where you are in your recovery journey?

 

[JWS]

Glad to read you are doing so well, @JWS!

Would you like us to change your thread title (it still says "One week post-op) to reflect better where you are in your recovery journey?

Sure just not sure what to name it.

 

[benne68]

You can choose anything that feels right, but here are some thought-starters for you.

JWS's TKR Recovery Journery
or
My TKR Recovery Journey since April 2024

If you want something to inspire others, maybe something along the lines of:

Turned the Corner on my TKR Recovery
or
TKR Recovery: It Really Does Get Better with Time

 

[JWS]

Ok let’s do “JWS recovery journey since April 24/24”

Thanks appreciate the help.

 

[Layla]

Title changed. Easy peasy!
Have a great Friday and weekend!
@JWS

 

[Layla]

Happy Three Month Anniversary!
Love your three month update...you're doing well.
Keep up the good work!
@JWS

 

[JWS]

Wow,I have made the 4 month mark. Recovery is going well and I have just completed my wife’s green house. I seldom have any pain now but my knee will still ache if I over do it which I have tended to do a few times climbing up and down ladders putting the roof on the greenhouse. I will just sit down for a while and rest it if it start aching or getting tired. I still have some swelling it seems to be permanent but hopefully over time it will go away. Another thing I feel is not ache or pain but what I would call a tight feeling, others have described as a feeling like a band around my knee. I am curious if others that have that feeling how long it takes to go away? If I have been sitting for a while and stand up it can take a couple steps for a mild ache to stop.
I am still happy with progress even though my bend is not what it was before and I do not even know how straight I am now and do not think about it at all it does not affect my activities . I did have to kneel a few times building the greenhouse but I always use a thick pad under my knee as I am not ready to put full weight on it in kneeling position. Hopefully by months 5 or 6 this will pretty much be behind me. My fear now is my left knee is starting to talk to me.

 

[mendogal]

You are having a quite remarkably ahead-of-things recovery.

The swelling and aching will still benefit from 45 minute sessions of icing and elevating 2 - 3 x daily daily - at four months, they are your knee's only way to signal that you've overdone it. Just sitting and resting isn't enough - you're still not even halfway healed!

Stiffness with prolonged sitting and the tight band are nearly universal after TKR. Both very slowly improve with the passing months.

 

[benne68]

Another thing I feel is not ache or pain but what I would call a tight feeling, others have described as a feeling like a band around my knee. I am curious if others that have that feeling how long it takes to go away? If I have been sitting for a while and stand up it can take a couple steps for a mild ache to stop.

I still experience that tightness, although it's intermittent now, and I'm at 8 months post-op ( my TKR was in December). Same with needing to take a couple of steps before things level out when I get up after sitting for long periods. Since I had the same experience during my first TKR recovery, I know it does eventually go away -- although I honestly can't tell you when.

Also, I agree with mendogal about the icing and elevating. Even at my stage of recovery, I still find it helpful when I overdo things.

You are doing really well for 4 months out -- just be careful not to "overdo" because it can delay your full recovery.

 

[JWS]

You are having a quite remarkably ahead-of-things recovery.

The swelling and aching will still benefit from 45 minute sessions of icing and elevating 2 - 3 x daily daily - at four months, they are your knee's only way to signal that you've overdone it. Just sitting and resting isn't enough - you're still not even halfway healed!

Stiffness with prolonged sitting and the tight band are nearly universal after TKR. Both very slowly improve with the passing months.

Thank you Mendogal, yours and other experiences have help me tremendously going through this. One of the things that I think helped me recover is the VA required me to do 15 sessions of PT before surgery before they would approve surgery. I think this helped strengthen muscles pre surgery.